Pressure drilling head



Nov. 24, 1942. A. PRANGER Er AL PRESSURE DRILLING HEAD Filed Ncv. 8, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT OR. ALBERT PRANGER YSAMUEL ALLEN GU/BERJON H ATTORNEY.

Nov. 24, 1942. GER ETAL 2,303,090

PRESSURE DRILLING HEAD Filed Nov. 8, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 6 INVENTOR.

AL 867?? PRANGER BYSAMl/[L ALLEN cunxw ATTORNEY.

Nov 24, 1942. PRANGER ET'AL 2,303,090

PRESSURE DRILLING HEAD Filed Nov. 8, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR: ALBERT PRANGER BY SAMUEL ALLEN'GU/B R: NM

ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 24, 1942 UNITED STATES, PATENT OFFICE {RES SURE DRILLING. HEAD I Albert Pranger and Samuel Allen Guiber son, III,

Dallas, Tex., asslgnors to The Guiberson Corporation, Dallas, Ten, acorporation oi Delaware . Application November 8, 1 938, Serial- No. 239,458

Claims. (Cl. 255-19) cation, but it :shows a much simpler structure the same or substantially the same to secure results.

'The invention relates toa pressure drillin head and is useful when wells are drilled under pressure or to prevent a blowout in case an excessive pressure results from drilling into a high pressure zone.

Until comparatively recently mud was practi-,

cally the only drilling iluid used and'it was Dumped downwardly through the kelly and" drill pipe, passing from the lowerend of the drill pipe 'around the drill, thereby lubricating the drill and picking up the bits of rock and bringwhen the drill removed.

Another object'ofthe invention is to employ novel means to compress the packer which acts as the seal around the kelly or drill pipe. I

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the detailed. specification and claims which follow. v

In the drawings I Fig. 1 is a side elevational view partly in cross section of an improved pressure drilling head, i 3 Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on the line 'Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and showing the packer-surrounding the square kelly shown in Fig. l,

ing them to the surface between the drill pipe and the well casing. Sometimes if high pressures weneincurred, this mud was weighted'to prevent a blowout. The mud had the disadvantage of. being forced into the oil bearing sands and therefore acting as a dam to prevent the free how of the oil. Accordingly, it has'been suggested to use oil instead of mud, as the oil could never form such' a dam and clog the free flowing of the oil. from the oil bearing sands,

but of course, oil is considerably lighter than the weighted mud and this has necessitated the use of a pressure head so that an auxiliary supply of' gas might be introduced seas to. create a sufl'icient pressure to prevent the oil between the drill pipe and the casing being blown out with disastrous consequences. Pressure drilling heads had heretofore been proposed, but all of these drilling heads had to be removed in order to remove the drill pipe with outside collars. Some means would, therefore, have to be employed to retain the pressure when the pressure drilling head was removed. Various arrangements have been proposed to attach some apparatus which would hold in the pressure when the pressure drilling head was removed. This meant that two pressure holding means were required, that is, a pressure drilling head was employed while the drilling was taking place and the supplemental device, such as an oil saver of the ram type was used when the pipe with out side couplings was being removed.

' The object of this invention is to avoid all of the objections heretofore experienced and to provide one device which serves as a pressure drilling head and which will accommodate either a square or a round kelly and will conform to outside collars on drill pipes while the same are being removed. This one structure therefore may be utilized to hold the pressure while drilling and may also be utilized to hold the pressure Fig. 4' is a view similar to Fig.3 but showing the packer engaging a round kelly or drill pipe, Fig. 5 is a modification and is a-figure similar to Fig. 1 but with an auxiliary pressure supplyvto forcethe packer downwardly into pressure sealing engagement with the kelly,,and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing a second modification.

In Fig. 1 I have shown the parts in drilling position in which the squarekelly l which is,

of course, rotated by the rotary table in the usual manner, is attached to a drill pipe 2 by means of an outside collar 3. While we have not shown succeeding sections of drill pipe, it is obvious that outside collars similar to the collar-3 could be utilized to connect the succeeding sections of the drill pipe.

The collar 4 is screw threaded as shown at 5 and is adapted to be attached to the top of the well casing. This collar 4 is provided with upstanding arms 6 integral with the collar 1. The collar. 4 is provided with an inwardly extending flange 8 on which rests a packing ring 9. If desired, this packing ring may be made into two semii-circular sections or may be formed as one continuous ring. Seated on the packing ring 9 is a packing in on which rests a packing ring H. The packing may be compressed by screwing downwardly on a pressure ring l2,having a depending threaded flange l3 which engages female threads on the collar 4.

The collar 1 is provided with-female threads I4 which receive the threads on the lower portion of a head l5. It will be noted that all of the parts 4 to I 5 inclusive remain stationary with the casing. The head I5 is provided near its lower end with a pressure ring IB'on which is seated a packing ring I1. A conventional packing i 8 is interposed between the packing ring I! and the upper packing ring |9. A coil spring 20 rests onthe upper packing ring i9 and on a seat 2| forming a part of the head l5. In the structure shown in the said patent pipe 'with outside collars is being a tendency for the well. fluid to gradually leak by the packing I6 it would flow outwardly between the arms 6 and escape. There wouldbe no tendency for it to flow upwardly by the packer l8 and into the roller bearing assembly. This is one of the improvements over the structure shown in the said patent application.

The head I is provided with an upper roller bearing raceway 22 and a lower raceway 23. Roll-. ers 24 are interposed between the raceway 22 pressure zone, itwas necessary to remove thedrill .pipe this could be accomplished by simply above the well packer it would be removed in the elevating the kelly and drill 'pipe,'the parts slidafter each section of the drill pipe was elevated customary manner.

and an inner raceway 25 seated on a shoulder provided with a downwardly extending circular ring 3| which contacts with the upper end of the raceway 22 which when the bolts 32 are' tightened will press downwardly on the upper raceway'22 pressing it into'contact with the"upper rollers 24 and pressing the inner raceway 25 against the shoulder 26. This-tends to move.

the entire housing 21 downwardly and therefore presses the lower, inner raceway 28' into engagement with the rollers 24 and presses the said rollers into engagement with the lower raceway 23. In order to adjust the bearings it is only necessary to insert or remove more shims 81 and retighten bolts 32. The chamber 33 between the housing and the head is filled with a lubricant so as to eliminate friction and to reduce ear.

W A corrugated packer 34 is clearly shown in Fig. 1 rest: at its lower end on a seat 35 forming an inwardly extending projection of the housing 21. The lower end of the gland 36 rests on the upper end of the packer 34 and this gland is provided with an outwardly extending upper ring 31 provided with a plurality of circular holes 38 through which pass studs 39 having nuts 40 above the rung 31 and which screw into the ring 4I screwed to the upper portion of the housing 21. In order to prevent the ring 4| from working loose, a key 42 is seated in a channel 43 in the ring 4| and into a notch 44 in the upper portion of the housing 21, being held in place by a bolt 45.

It will be noted that the head I5 remains stationary and if a square kelly I is employed, the gland 36 presses the corrugated packer 34 into tight engagement with the square kelly making a seal as shown in Fig. 3 around the square kelly so that if the square kelly is rotated the packer 34 will rotate with it, which will in turn cause rotation of the housing 21 and the gland 36. Since the housing 21 is mounted in roller bearings, friction is reduced to an absolute minimum. As the well is drilled deeper, the square kelly I will slide downwardly through the packer 34 without breaking seal, The packer 34 will maintain the pressures between the casing and the drill pipe and even if the operator should suddenly drill into a very high pressure zone, the worst that could happen would be that the pressure would engage the lower end of the packer and press it upwardly, but thi would make the engagement between the packer and the kelly all the tighter, In actual experience it has been found that this packer will hold any reasonable pressure likely to be encountered. If, after drilling into a high It has been suggested that it might be well to interpose some form of a kelly clamp between the kelly' I and the gland 36, but this has been found'to be entirely unnecessary if the engagement between the kelly, the packer and the housing are sufilciently tight so that the housing-and the packer '34 will rotate with the kelly instead of the kelly rotating relative to thepacker and thereby unduly wearing it. a

In Fig. 5 we have shown a modification in which the packer 34 may be compressed by means of a pump. In Figs. 5 and 6 we have not shown the lowermost packer corresponding to the packer I0 but of course it will be understood that the lower packer could be used if desired. The housing 21 and head I5 together with the roller bearing assembly as shown in Fig. 5 are identical with the structure shownin Fig. 1. Instead of the gland 36 as shown in Fig. 1 the modification shown in Fig, 5 shows an elongated gland 46 which bears against the lower end of the upper packer 34, This elongated gland '46 is provided at its upper end with an annular channel 41 and seat 48 on which rests a ring 49'. Integral with the ring 36 is a housing 56 to which is screwed a closure 5|. a suitable shim 52- being interposed between'the housing 50 and the closure 5| and thereby making the same pressure tight. The housing is provided with an annular seat 53 on which rests'a ring 54. Packing 55 rests on the ring 54 and against a shoulder the passage of fluid between the closure' 5| and the gland 46. The gland 46 is provided with a shoulder 56 which receives a cup-shaped sealing ring 51 which is pressed tightly against the shoulder by means of a ring 58 screwed to the gland 46. The sealing ring 51 prevents fluid from passing downwardly between the gland 46 and the housing 50 so that a pressure type chamber 59 is maintained between the packing 55 and the hous ing 59 and gland 46,

A port 60 extends through the housing 50 and opening into the chamber 59 and ,into this port is screwed a nipple 6| provided with screw threads 62 to which may be attached a nozzle 63 on a tube 64 leading from a pump 65. By operating the pump 65 a fluid may be pumped into the' for the closure 5I to be moved upwardly the result is that the gland 46 is pushed downwardly compressing the packer 34. The ring 49 will move downwardly with the gland 46 for there is a clearancebetween the bolts 66 corresponding, to the'bolts 39 in Fig. 1 and the ring 49. If desired, the nuts on bolts 66 may then be screwed downwardly so as to hold the packer in its depressed position even though the pressure in the pressure chamber was relieved. If it is desired to relieve the pressure in the chamber 59, the pressure plug 61 may be' removed. I

The above described arrangement'is especially advantageous where it is desired to depress the packer by means of a pump when the operator is not drilling, but of course, the connection between the pump and the housing 50 would have to be removed'when drilling because the housing 50 would rotate with the housing 21, the packer 34 and kelly I.

If it is desired to maintain pressure in the pressure chamber while the kelly is rotating, this may be accomplished by the modification shown in Fig. 6.' The structure shownin Fig. 6 is very similar to the structure shown in Fig. 5, it having a pressure chamber 59 between the gland 46, sealing ring 51, packing 55 and housing 50. It is also provided with a port 60 in which a check valve 68 may be interposed if desired. Instead of the pressure plug 61 shown in Fig. 5, a channel 69 may be provided extending upwardly through the closure. and then outwardly, having its end sealed by a relief plug 10. A communicating channel H would, of course, also be provided in the ring 12,

A head 13 may be attached to the upper end of the head [5 and, if desired, this head may be integral with the head secured by the bolts 32 to the head IS. The head I; will, therefore, remain stationary while the housing 50 will rotate with the housing 21. The head I3 is'provided with a shoulder 14 on which rests a ring I5 which supports packing 16. A closure ring I1 is secured to the upper end 01' the head 13 by bolts 18. Packing 19 is placed beneath the closure ring II and between the head 13 and housing 50. A spacer ring 80, which is I shaped in cross section and which has passageways between the connecting portions of the I, is interposed between the lower packing l6 and the upper packing 19. A pump 8| is connected to the space between the upp packing I9 and the lower packing IS in the same manner as shown in Fig. 5, but if desired, a valve 82 may be placed in' the pipe connecting the pump in the pressure head. By operating the pump 8| with the .valve 82 open, the pressure from the pump enters the spaces in the spacer ring 80 thereby unseating the check valve 68 and passes into the chamber 59," thereby pressing the gland 45 downwardly and compressing the packer 34. his obvious that since the head I3 remains stationary while the housing ill and the gland 48 rotate when the kelly is rotated, the pump 8| may be employed to depress the packer 34 regardless of whether the kel rotating or not.

Sometimes it may be desirable to utilize the presure in the well to move the gland 46 downwardly. In order to accomplish this a pipe 03 may be provided which communicates with the space between the upper end'bf the casing and the drill pipe and which pipe extends to the same pipe connecting the pump to the pressure head. Avalveflshouldbeinsertedinthepipett. It

from the pressure existing in the pressure chamber 59, thereby avoiding wear between the said packings and the housing 50.

Of course, the usual drain plugs 85 are provided which when removed from it the oil in the roller bearing assembly would be drained, out.

The cup washer 86 carried by the cover plate 30 serves to prevent water, mud, and dirt from entering chamber 33.

.We realiz that many changes may be made in the form of the invention as shown by way of illustration and not by way of limitation in'the attached drawings and we, therefore, desire to claim the same broadly except as we mayvlimit ourselves in the attached claims.

Having now described our invention, we claim:

1. In a pressure head for an oil well, a housing, a packer mounted in said head and adapted to receive a kelly, the lower end of saidpacker being exposed at least in part to th pressure in the oil well, a gland to press downwardly on the upper end of said packer to force it into packing engagement with said housing and kelly, fluid operated means to actuate said gland, and adjustable means to hold the gland-in depressed position after the fluid the same.

2 In a pressure head for an oil well, a packer mounted in said head and adapted toreceive a kelly, a gland to compress said packer to force the packer into sealing engagement with the kelly, fluid operated means to actuate said gland and means to hold the gland in position after the fluid operated means has compressed the packer.

3. In a pressure head for an oil well, a packer mounted in said head and adapted to receive a kelly, a gland to compress said packer to force the packer into sealing engagement with the kelly fluid operated means to actuate the gland operated means has depressed to compress the packer, a plurality of bolts oper-.

atively connected to said head and adjustable holding means cooperating with the bolts to hold the gland in position after the fluid operated means has compressedthe packer.

will, of course, be understood that when the pump isusedthevalveflwillbeopenandthevalvefl closed, butwhenthewellpressureistobeutilized the valve 84 will be open and th valve 82 closed. Regardless of whether the fluid pressure comes from the wellor from the pump, the pressure depresses the gland 46 and presses downwardly on the upper portion 01' the packer 34 while the pressure iron the well itselt directly presses against the lower portion of the packer I4. y

The check valve "is not absolutely necessary, but it is valuable in that pressure may be inserted in the pressure chamber II and retained therein even though the pressure is relieved from the pump thatisin thespace around thespacer ring ll andtherebytbepacking I9 and 'ltisrelieved 4. In a pressure'head for an oil well, a housing, a rotatable gland in said housing, a packer mounted in said housing and adapted to receive a kelly, fluid tight packing carried by said gland and said housing and spaced apart to form a fluid chamber therebetween, means to'iorce pressure fluid into said chamber to move the gland to compress the packer and holding means to hold the gland in position to compress the packer, said holding mean holding the gland so as to compress the packer even if the fluid pressure should bereleased.

5. In a pressure head for an oil well, a housing, Q

a gland in said housing, a packer mounted in said housing and adapted to receive a kelly, a flxed fluid tight packing carried by said housing, a fluid tight packing carried'by said gland and spaced apart from the packing carried by the housing so' as to form a fluid tight chamber therebetween, a pump to force pressure fluid into said chamber against the packing carried by the gland so as to move the gland to compress the-packer and adiustable holding means adapted to be operated after the fluid pressure means has compressed the packer to hold the gland in position to retain the packer in' com-condition even if the fluid pressure should be released. ALBERT PRANGER.

SAMUEL ALLEN GN, III. 

